This blog captures interesting news items from around the world for those strained by information overload and yet need to stay updated on global events of significance. The news items displayed are not in order of merit. (The blog takes a weekly off -- normally on Sunday -- and does not appear when I am on vacation, travelling, or otherwise busy.)
Joe A Scaria
Former Senior Assistant Editor, The Economic Times, India

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Historic nomination for Hillary Clinton; iPhone sales fall again; The new age of uncertainty

1 Historic nomination for
Hillary Clinton (San Francisco Chronicle) Taking her place in history, Hillary
Clinton has become the first woman to lead a major party toward the White
House, a triumphant moment for Democrats to relish before plunging into a
bruising general election against Republican Donald Trump.

Supporters of Bernie
Sanders, Clinton's primary rival, repeatedly interrupted Monday's proceedings
with boos and chants of "Bernie." Before Clinton's nomination became
official, Sanders' supporters had one more opportunity to voice their fierce
loyalty to the Vermont senator. Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard vowed that the
movement Sanders' sparked "can never be stopped or defeated."

Sanders sat in the
arena soaking in the cheers and waving to the crowd. But the convention
belonged to Clinton, who was bursting through the glass ceiling she was unable
to crack during her failed 2008 campaign. She was nominated by a trio of
Democrats, including Georgia Rep. John Lewis, who praised Clinton as a
"great leader who can unite us as a nation and a people."

"Tonight we will
make history, about 100 years in the making," said Karen Finney, a senior
adviser for Clinton's campaign. "What we're really going to focus on
tonight is telling that story, and telling her story, talking about the fights
of her life."

2 iPhone sales fall
again (BBC) Apple has reported a second consecutive quarter of falling iPhone
sales, but the 15% drop was not as bad as analysts had feared. The US tech
giant sold 40.4 million iPhones in its third quarter, slightly above forecasts
of 40.02 million.

Apple chief executive
Tim Cook said the results reflected "stronger customer demand... than we
anticipated". The firm said it expected sales to fall again in the fourth
quarter to between $45.5bn and $47.5bn. Demand for Apple's flagship product has
been slowing since the second quarter when the firm reported the first drop in
iPhone sales since their 2007 launch.

The iPhone makes up for
around two-thirds of Apple's sales and accounts for even more of its profits. The
slowdown in iPhone sales sent profit down 27% to $7.8bn in the three months to
25 June, while revenues fell 14.6% to $42.4bn. Apple's sales in Greater China -
defined by the company as China, Hong Kong and Taiwan - plunged 33%.

3 The new age of uncertainty (Stuart Jeffries in The
Guardian) The future is always to some extent uncertain, but never more so than
now. “Disruption is the new normal,” says author Jonathan Fields. Will we
Brexit? Could there be another referendum? What will happen next?

Not all current uncertainty is a result of the EU
referendum. We worry increasingly about things that never concerned our
parents. Will Donald Trump be US president in November? Will the combination of
rocketing property market and burden of student debt mean that you’ll never be
able to afford downpayment?

Is it more financially wise to keep your money under
the mattress rather than entrust it to a bank? Is it worth saving at all now
that negative interest rates are being considered? Possibly worst of all,
following a spate of murderous attacks across Europe and now Japan, we’re
increasingly uncertain about our safety when we go beyond our front doors.

My only consolation is what Bertrand Russell wrote
in The Triumph of Stupidity: “In the modern world the stupid are cocksure while
the intelligent are full of doubt.” The parents who know, with vexing
self-confidence, which school would be best for their little horrors are really
deluded, while I’m a genius because of my very uncertainty. That must be what’s
happening.

Every choice feels like a gamble, every decision
relies on making a prediction about an unpredictable future. To make a plan for
a life in such circumstances feels like a fool’s wager.

Here’s a consoling thought: earlier historical eras
have not felt any different to those struggling through them. In 1977, for
instance, the great economist John Kenneth Galbraith presented a BBC TV series
called The Age of Uncertainty, contrasting “the great certainties in economic
thought in the last century with the great uncertainty with which problems are
faced in our time”.